Alain Prost was a guest on the show Cliquethis Tuesday, December 3, 2024. Faced with Mouloud Achour, the former Formula 1 driver returned to the reasons which pushed him to leave France when he was at the start of his career.
Alain Prost remains an essential legend of Formula 1 and the greatest French driver in history. In 13 seasons, the one we nickname the Professor won 51 victories, 106 podiums and 4 world championship titles, putting his name at the top of motorsport. Driver of legendary teams such as McLaren, Renault, Williams and Ferrari, he left his mark with his precision and racing intelligence. His career is today celebrated by Canal+ with a documentary entitled Prost which retraces his exceptional journey. Despite his exploits, Alain Prost remains humble, dividing his life between his wife, his daughter Victoria, and moments of serenity away from the spotlight. However, behind this resounding success lies a trajectory punctuated by difficult periods. Guest on the show Clique this Tuesday, December 3, 2024, he looked back on the dark moments of his career, where his popularity wavered, in particular due to misunderstandings and significant controversies.
“It really disturbed me”
Questioned by Mouloud Achour, Alain Prost returned to the moments when he was targeted by part of the French public. “Very bad, because, more than 40 years later, I still think about it,” he confides. Among the notable events, he first cites his political declarations during the presidential election of 1981, then the incident with René Arnoux in 1982 at the French Grand Prix. “There’s a team order that he doesn’t respect, but in the end, I’m the one who comes across as the bastard,” he explains. These episodes triggered a wave of hostility which pushed him to leave France. “A few weeks later, I decided to leave France, because there, I really had messages, a burned car, messages of death. I was spat on in the street, in the car”. From this period, Alain Prost draws an observation about his compatriots: “That's where I discovered the 50/50 of this somewhat French mentality, which means that you have people who adore you […] and others who are a mixture of jealousy and hatred. It really disturbed me. It's sad. I had just signed with McCormack, I told them 'What I want is to leave France, you put me anywhere'. That's the story. The tax story is totally false, there is no truth. I left with the equivalent of 35,000 euros.” Topic closed?
France
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